Why Starbucks' CEO Wants to Freeze Campaign Contributions

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

The lifeblood of small businesses is access to credit, and we know that small business is the driving force of employment in this country. With 9.1 percent unemployment and no access to credit, we've got to make a change.

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Welcome to Politics Bites, where every afternoon at It's A Free Country, we bring you the unmissable quotes from the morning's political conversations on WNYC. Today on theBrian Lehrer Show, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz urged other corporate execs to stop making campaign donations until Washington starts working together to repair the economy.

Why dry up donations?

Howard Schultz is asking CEOs to take the money they would donate to political campaigns and instead donate it to his Upward Spiral campaign. Upward Spiral would create a fund that provides credit and loans to small businesses hoping to get off the ground, Schultz said.

The idea works on two fronts, the first of which is that withholding from politicians might engender more cooperation in Washington. Schultz said recent events have made it clear that the current state of partisan politics is untenable and destructive.

Most Americans watched with profound disappointment when congress was uanble to reach a bipartisan debt ceiling deal about a month ago. That resulted in a crisis of leadership and a crisis of confidence in America, and as a result of that I just thought, this is a moment in time where we can't rely on government and wait for government; but business leaders and corporations should in some way come together to send a signal to washington that we no longer want to embrace the status quo.

'The lifeblood of small business'

In addition to affecting political change, Schultz's idea is also supposed to work on the job creation front. Instead of contributions to bickering, how about contributions to business? Schultz said the Upward Spiral program would give something to small businesses and start-ups that big banks and the government itself aren't willing or able to provide.

The lifeblood of small businesses is access to credit, and we know that small business is the driving force of employment in this country. With 9.1 percent unemployment and no access to credit, we've got to make a change.

Balancing profits with conscience

Schultz stressed that business could play the kind of humanitarian role that many people want the government to fill. He was optimistic that an economic recovery was possible, but also that a new breed of benevolent corporations could come with it.

The gap between the haves and have-nots is widening. The amount of revenue that state and local municipalities have is going to cut social services in America, and this is why it's so vitally important for corporations to recognize that their pursuit of profitability as a singular goal is quite shallow. It needs to be balanced with a social conscience.

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Stephen Reader covers politics for It's a Free Country, WNYC's interactive politics site. He joined the station in 2010 and has also worked for Studio 360, WNYC's Peabody Award-winning show about art, culture, and creativity.

Comments [29]

This will be buried far down in the list, but I agree with some of the comments here. The Upward Spiral is SUCH A great movement... but the irony of Starbucks touting it as a cause is ridiculous. Perhaps they are saying, we support upstarts and local business, as long as they aren't in our industry.

I am writing from Salt Lake City, Utah... not exactly what people consider the coffee capital of the world, right? It's predominantly Mormon (LDS) here, but the underground that exists is VERY adamant - and surprising for most people. The local coffee shops here have struggled to survive- and close to our home, we literally watched a wonderful shop run by a wonderful gay couple be run out of business as Starbucks opened not 100 yards away with an expensive storefront and stole their business away. It's awful, I don't go to Starbucks, I don't shop at Walmart.

I hate your new format for listening on the web. You cannot rewind in case you missed something. You are making an extra step which takes longer. You cannot see the comments other people left. I hate it. I hate it. Why did you make listening on the internet worse!!!

I love Starbucks, but if they want to really help the economy, maybe they could contract out with American factories to make all of their mugs. Starbucks sells more than just coffee and I think that for them to sell only American-made products in their stores (mugs, espresso shot glasses, travel cups, etc.) would not only set an example and send an important and strong message, but would actually directly contribute to adding jobs beyond hiring baristas.

Truth-telling? Nobody in America really wants to hear the truth! Here is the truth. 4% of the world's population cannot forever consume 20% of its resouces, or produce 20% of it production forever either.

The truth is, our standard of living WILL fall, and no protests or bellyaching is going to change that fact one iota!

If people who to blame or scapegoat, let them look in the mirror. Did they borrow money? And if so, did they think about what would happen if they could not pay it back? That's the problem. The country has been living on growing mountain of debt until it came crashing down, and it hasn't finished crashing by a long shot!

IN the past, when countries got poor, many people emigrated to places like the United States. That was one personal solution to poverty back then.

I'm a fan of the Upward Spiral movement, but I have to speak up for the mom and pop coffee shops that Starbucks did run out of town in the 90's. It is not a myth, as Mr. Schultz claimed. The two I specifically remember were Zopie's and No Borders No Boundaries in Syracuse. Starbucks moved in, and they shut down literally overnight. I remember.

I don't know what Mr. Schultz was into in 1971 but we had little coffee shops all over Long Island and they were places where the community converged and gossip flew. Maybe there weren't any in Seattle. That could be why he thinks there weren't coffeeshops anywhere.

This just proves our governement is bought by corporate interest, when business activism is cutting off the campaign donations. Why don't they just stop donating to our corrupt politicians all together and let the people have the government back. They have an agenda.

Also, why don't they get active about the obesity problem in america and stop selling 2500 calorie milkshakes under the guise selling coffee

This just proves our governement is bought by corporate interest, when business activism is cutting off the campaign donations. Why don't they just stop donating to our corrupt politicians all together and let the people have the government back. They have an agenda.

Also, why don't they get active about the obesity problem in america and stop selling 2500 calorie milkshakes under the guise selling coffee

Saying Starbucks is driving "Mom and Pop" coffee shops out of business is like saying Apple drove other tablet makers out of business. Heck - they practically created the market for "quality coffee" in North America.

Schultz wants to cut off any government business regulation. Like Better Business Bureau (set up really to protect businesses from government intervention). Pretend to be socially minded when just worried about manipulating political system so it doesn't effect them. Especially when see uprising beginning to blossom.

"A myth that isn't true"? Really? So, when they open three Starbucks across the street from each other, keep them open until all the local coffee shops close and then close two of the Starbucks - that's a strategy to encourage small coffee shops to open? Wow.

ask Mr. Schultz how can he justify Starbucks in countries such as Jordan or china pay Starbucks workers similar wages to what they pay in that specific country... such as 1 dollars an hour and charge costumers there the same they charge here such as 5 dollars a drink??!!!

Has Mr. Schultz considered the possibility that many corporations are paying to effect gridlock? It's to be expected that those invested in maintaining the status quo would make political contributions to keep things as they are.

Please ask: Is Mr. Schultz asking the same of the mega unions? (AFSCME - municipal employees union- was THE SINGLE biggest campaign contributor in 2010.) Or is he just trying to disarm one side, while pretending to be neutral?

Is Starbuck's unionized? If not, is he just doing this to throw a bone to unions and keep them at bay?

Hasn't he been a reliable supporter of Democrats (Patty Murray and others) and wouldn't this pledge of corporations disadvantage Republicans the most?

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